Crypt TV’s THE LOOK-SEE is a remarkable, well put together horror web-series on YouTube. The first season surpassed my expectations, as the series as a whole was downright amazing. The monster by itself was already terrifying, but the music, atmosphere, and acting just took it to a whole new level. Typically, online tv shows don’t fare too well, as they are usually sloppily thrown together, with little to no thought put into them. They are un-enjoyable to the point where you can’t even sit down and make fun of it, because of how horrible it is. That’s not the case with these short films.

To begin, the Look-See’s main objective is to force people to let go of the past. This monster targets unsuspecting victims, and uses the phrase “If you yourself cannot release, then it will come and take a piece”, meaning if they are not able to let go of a traumatic event, he will come and take of piece of them that is connected to that occurrence. It might sound a little bit confusing, but as the season goes on, you can tell why he takes the parts that he does.

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For example in the first episode of season one, a woman was not able to let go of her failing marriage, and didn’t get rid of her wedding ring in time. The Look-See monster confronted her, and took away her hand. Her hand was the thing that was holding her back from moving on and starting fresh, so he took a piece of her. The idea, alongside the circumstances and the monster is one of the most creative things I have seen in awhile.

I applaud Crypt TV for their ability to come up with such an amazing web-series, as every episode is so engaging and intriguing. I highly recommend this show, words cannot explain how much I enjoyed the first season, and how delighted I am that there will be a second!

Summary: After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence. (from IMDB)

Yes. The film is over ten years old, but I wanted to include some of the horror movies that made a splash in more recent times. Also, I rather liked Paranormal Activity. It’s a charming little film that doles out the scares just enough to keep the you interested. There are two main characters, Katie and Micah, a couple who have a cute little home except for the issue of what may or may not be an issue with haunting.

The film is shot in POV style, which is a fancy way of saying one of the characters has a camera and makes it their business to film any and everything thing. In this case, it goes with the plot, since Katie and Micah want to see what’s happening while they’re asleep.

I won’t give away the movie on the off chance that you haven’t seen it by now, but suffice it to say I did enjoy this movie, although I feel the characters made some questionable choices. I also felt that Micah was kind of a jerk at some points, as he deliberately went against Katie’s wishes in a few instances. And I think that in doing that, he was the cause of the final events.

But if he followed all the rules, there wouldn’t be a movie, now would there?

I’d also like to note that I’ve seen both endings, and personally, I can see the value in both. I can also see why they did the modified ending, to open up that sequel door!

I recommend Paranormal Activity, if you haven’t seen it already. It’s worth it to see what all the fuss was about.

Summary: Three friends stumble upon the horrific origins of a mysterious figure they discover is the root cause of the evil behind unspeakable acts. (from IMDB)

There’s an old song, from the seventies, that says, “Where do I begin/To tell the story of how sweet a love can be?”

In this case, I would change the words to: Where do I begin/to tell the story of how crap this film it be?

The movie begins in what looks like the 1960s where some dude with glasses is walking around with a shotgun chanting “Don’t think it, don’t say it” and systematically shooting everyone in his house and finally himself. Okay. That’s fine. It is a horror, after all.

Fast forward to the present time, and the good ol’ pack of those kind of young folks that you see in horror all the time characterize themselves for the viewer. Hopefully, this briefest of character sketches will make us feel sorry for them when things go woefully wrong. Spoiler alert: I’m just here for the Bye Bye Man. Also, I see you black dude!

There are several good things about the movie. The atmosphere is appropriately creepy and foreboding. The dark cinematography, even over the daytime scenes, give you a feeling that anything can happen at any time. There are some jump scares that are kind of effective and the monster/killer itself gives off a type of Freddy Krueger vibe.

That being said, the film did not quite make it for me. It wasn’t that the film was so bad, in fact, it had an interesting premise and the actors (for the most part) were adequate. It just felt like something was missing. They seemed to be playing fast and loose with the plot, which made some of the reasoning behind characters’ motivations hard to follow.

All in all, I won’t turn you away from seeing this movie. As I said, the premise was intriguing and parts of the movie were effective. Go into this with the thought you’re just going to have fun, and you will.

Summary: A group of college friends reunite for a trip to the forest, but encounter a menacing presence in the woods that’s stalking them. (from IMDB)

Starring: This Guy, That Guy, Glasses Guy, Red Coat Guy

Usually I’m down for a horror movie where the actors go on a hike and get lost in the woods. They can find anything there, from an evil killer, to a time loop or even a supernatural force that will tear them limb from limb. A good monster, such as Bigfoot or the Jersey Devil does well too. Alsi, alien invasions, government experiments gone wrong or mechanic cannibals.

Basically, anything. I’ve seen everything I’ve listed and more and have enjoyed the movie at one level or another.. or simply turned it off halfway through.

The Ritual is based on a book that my daughter is currently reading which I was unable to snatch from her fingers. She asked for it for Christmas, but she was so busy reading her novels for the Battle of the Books that I didn’t have the heart to take it from her and was too cheap to buy a Kindle copy.

The best horror movies can go one of two ways- you either care about the characters and hate seeing them in trouble, sitting through many nail biting moments, or you take the killing in stride and giggle gleefully as each person is picked off.

The Ritual, in short was neither of these. Despite some random chatter at the beginning which introduces us to the characters, immediate followed by a tragedy, I could not muster up any real emotion for the characters. So I settled into gleefully watch them wander around the woods and get picked off.

This was not to be. As a traditionally shot feature, I did not get the requisite introduction of the crew via straight talk to the camera. To me those are both fun and cheesy and allows you to bond (or not) with the character of your choosing.

Not only did I not feel a bond, the movie took a while to reach the action. After the tragedy, they go on the hike. Some introspection and discussion later, someone does something which then requires a shortcut to be taken. And I use the term ‘someone’ deliberately. I honestly could not tell one character from the other in tone. Though they all looked different, they all were so bland as to be basic clones of each other. I ended up labeling them “glasses guy”, “the one with the reddish coat” etc.

Whew, I think. The movie was finally getting underway. Boy was I wrong.

By the time they got to the meat of the movie, I was checking the time on my Ghost Rider watch. (A movie that I liked, by the way, in the face of much criticism.) Simply put, even the flashes of “something in the night”, growling and mysterious symbols on trees did nothing for me.

When you see what is really happening, the first thing I thought of was M. Night Shamalayan’s “The Village” and not in a good way. I kept wondering, if people were disappearing like this, would the authorities eventually send out search parties? Maybe things are different in Sweden.

By the final act of the movie, I just didn’t care. There was an inkling of sort of thought as to personal grief and soul-pain, but….not enough to redeem the movie. It was like The Village crossed with The Wicker Man on heroin. A huge snooze.

I can’t even recommend this for fun. Skip it. I’ll update the post when I read the book.

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Rating: 2 out of 5 stars for the monster. If you’re not into seeing that, skip it.